His Opportunity to Change the World

His Opportunity to Change the World

Some years ago when Apple Computer fell on hard times,
Apple's co-founder and chairman, Steven Jobs, went from
California to New York City. "His purpose was to
convince Pepsi Co's John Sculley to move west and run
his struggling company. As the two men overlooked the
Manhattan skyline from Sculley's penthouse office, the
Pepsi executive started to decline Jobs's offer.
'Financially,' Sculley said, 'you'd have to give me a
million-dollar salary, a million-dollar bonus, and a
million-dollar severance.' Flabbergasted, Jobs gulped
and agreed--if Sculley would move to California. But
Sculley would commit only to being a consultant from
New York.

"At that, Jobs issued a challenge to Sculley, 'Do you
want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared
water, or do you want to change the world?' In his
autobiography, Oddesy, Sculley admits Jobs's challenge
'knocked the wind out of me.' He said he'd become so
caught up in his future at Pepsi, his pension, and
whether his family could adapt to life in California
that an opportunity to 'change the world' nearly passed
him by. Instead, he put his life in perspective and
went to Apple."1

Let me ask you a question, "Do you want to spend the
rest of your life selling "sugared water"--or doing
what you are doing today for the rest of your life? Or
do you want to help change at least your world?"
There's nothing wrong with selling sugared water ... or
doing a million other things; but there's nothing
earth-changing about many of these undertakings either.

The question is, "Is what you are doing making a
difference in someone's life--or that of many
lives--and that for eternity? Do you want to join hands
with Jesus Christ and help make an impact on your
world? If your answer is yes, He may call you to be a
prayer intercessor, to give sacrificially, to change
your profession, or He may call you to leave your
comfort zone to go out into the world of Christian
service.

Whatever you choose to invest your life in, be sure
that what you are doing is investing in people's lives
for all eternity, and in so doing, storing treasure in
heaven. 

 Leadership, Spring, 1991, Vol. XXII, No. 2, p. 44.